District Court Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood says that she will be denying two motions to suppress evidence filed in the case involving Joshua John Untalan Mesa, the man who allegedly picked up a mail parcel with 56 grams of methamphetamine from the Agana Heights cluster mailbox units.
While the Chief Judge indicated how she would decide, the written decision is pending.
Gatewood came to the decision fairly quickly as arguments were heard on a motion to suppress the package identified as the Lisa Young parcel, which contained the drugs.
There was also a motion to suppress a warrant-less search of Mesa’s vehicle and seizure of his phone when law enforcement effectuated a controlled delivery and Mesa ran into the jungle to hide.
Mesa’s attorney argued that the evidence should be suppressed based on the 4th amendment right of protecting people from unreasonable search and seizures.
He argued that there is an expectation of privacy and an unreasonable delay was present between when the package was received by the USPS and delivered.
But Tydingco-Gatewood appears to have sided with the government who contended that law enforcement did their due diligence in the case.
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